PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well radiation therapy planning techniques work in reducing damage to normal tissue in women undergoing breast-conserving surgery for ductal breast carcinoma.

OUTLINE: Patients undergo planned breast-conservation surgery and placement of titanium clips to the four radial, the deep, and superficial margins of the excision cavity (for localization of tumor bed).

Within 2 weeks after surgery, patients undergo supine radiotherapy-planning CT scan as standard analysis. Patients then undergo a radiotherapy-planning CT scan in the prone position. Patients complete a linear analogue questionnaire after both scans designed to assess patient comfort and anxiety in each position. Patients then undergo multifunctional MRI (including dynamic contrast-enhancement MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI) of the ipsilateral breast in the prone position (≥ 3 weeks after surgery). If suspicious lesions ≥ 5 mm are found on MRI, patients are referred for a second-look ultrasound with biopsy (if lesion visible on ultrasound); where suspicious lesions are seen only on MRI, patients undergo MRI-guided biopsy. Lesions < 5 mm are included in the whole-breast radiotherapy treatment.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years and older

Genders Eligible for Study:

Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Planning to undergo breast-conserving surgery (BCS)* for unifocal ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or grade 1-2 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast NOTE: *Patients who have underwent BCS and have titanium clips placed according to this protocol are eligible for this study.

No T4d or multifocal disease (as defined on mammography or ultrasound)

No G3 disease

Hormone receptor status not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Inclusion criteria:

Female

Menopausal status not specified

Exclusion criteria:

Cup size DD or greater

Ferromagnetic implants (exclude participation in MRI)

Claustrophobia (exclude participation in MRI)

Gadolinium allergy

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

No prior surgery to ipsilateral breast

No prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Contacts and Locations

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To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00602628